Printing machines normally include a printing couple which comprises a number of cylinders and/or rollers such as impression cylinders, master cylinders and blanket cylinders which form the printing couples of the machine. An ink system also includes various form rollers, ductor rollers, transfer rollers and the like for feeding ink to the various cylinders of the printing couple. In such printing machines as rotary offset lithographic duplicating machines, a moisture system also is provided and includes rollers similar to the ink system for feeding moisture to the printing couple. After printing, the sheets are fed to some form of sheet receiving means at an exit end of the machine for stacking copy sheets issuing from the machine.
Some machines of the character described also include a finishing couple which, itself, includes an impression cylinder along with other cylinders or drums for performing various operations on the copy sheets after they have issued from the printing couple and before the sheets are fed to the receiving means at the exit end of the machine. Specifically, the printing couple may perforate the copy sheets along perforation lines, either "horizontally" or "vertically", or selectively emboss the copy sheets, or score (slit) the copy sheets, or sequentially number the copy sheets. All such operations normally are performed on the sheets after they have issued from the printing couple.
A common example of such operations is a normal bank checkbook wherein each check is sequentially numbered and also includes a perforation line for tearing the checks out of the book. The checks also are imprinted with the bank's number or code as well as the individual's bank account number. These operations are termed "finishing" operations, because the checks themselves are printed with standard formats for all checks and, often, include a standard design selected from a given group of designs, with the format and the particular design being on a permanent master which prints the checks in the printing couple before reaching the finishing couple.
A major problem with finishing systems of the character described above, is the inability to efficiently adjust some of the finishing heads which perform the finishing operations. Most often, adjustments must be made within the machine and must be made while the machine is shut down. Even if a fine adjusting means is provided, an operator, often pressed for time, will ignore poor quality finishing operations because of the inefficiency of most systems.
An example of a poor quality finishing operation is where the copy sheets must be perforated or scored along a horizontal or vertical line. This is performed by a perforating or scoring wheel which penetrates the copy sheets on the impression cylinder. Practically everyone has experienced poor quality perforations where it is difficult to tear an individual sheet from a "book" of sheets along an inadequate perforation line without tearing into the body of the sheet itself. Bank checkbooks, above, is one example, as is an ordinary tablet of writing paper. Just the opposite, perforations may be excessive and result in the sheets tearing along a perforation line too easily when an individual wishes to write on the check or tablet sheet while it still is in book form. The significance of fine adjustment of such finishing operations can be understood when considering the very small thickness of the sheets themselves which actually define the range of adjustment.
This invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a new and improved, very fine adjustment system of a finishing head in a printing, duplicating and like machine, including an ability to make adjustments from outside the machine while the machine is operating.